So I had bought the welder. Picked up a hood and a bottle. It was time to build a cart. My friend gave me a bunch of scrap steel he had (pretty nice as far as I’m concerned) and I had a shelf from my grill I had never used. Lots of cutting, some welding, and a little grinding and my cart is complete, aside of adding the bottom shelf.

I used to weld a lot when I was in my early 20’s. Started off with miles (yes miles) of iron fencing, six foot tall spear top. The landscaping company owner next door to our fence shop would come by and have us fix some of his stuff. We ended up doing quite a bit of fab work and a lot of repair work in Rowlett TX.

This was nice because it reminded me of what I like and what I don’t. I hate 16 gauge. Anything thicker is fine. I used my chop saw with a finish blade for wood, and it cut everything for the cart, aside of the solid cold rolled handle/cord minder.

I need to buy a saw designed to cut metal.

I’m quite happy with most of my welds. Some of the 16 gauge blew holes and I had to repair that. I dislike hole filling just as much as I remember.

All in all it was a fun day. I do need to buy a jacket as I have one hell of a good arc flash burn on my arms.

Nice job. Looks good.

I always thought welding was a neat thing to do. I actually bought a wire welder from Home Despot probably 10 years or so ago. Used it for a while (never got good at it), and now I don't, as it's in New Mexico and I'm in South Carolina.

As fate would have it, I have a minor welding project I'd like to do - basically weld a piece of steel plate to an 11 gauge rectangular piece of tube steel. Perfect job for what I have. I figured it was a quick easy job, so I called a few places locally to see about having it done. Cheapest was about $300-400.

Awesome job! The tank holder and the handle/cord wrap combo is nice. I like that it's simple and looks light. I kind of went the opposite direction with mine, but it's stout as hell.

My thread is here.

You going to paint, clear coat, or leave it? I went with clear coat. For cutting, I have a DeWalt metal chop saw. It's decent, but I'd like a horizontal band saw for more precise cuts. At least I have an 8" bench grinder now.

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:
Cheapest was about $300-400.

[Apologies to beancooker for the thread drift.]

Having just hired a technician with a welding background, I'd suggest looking into various manufacturing companies in your area. Pick one, get in touch with the maintenance supervisor and ask if someone on his team welds. Get in touch with that guy.

Naturally, there might be some reluctance from that person in terms of welding at work (liability and such), but in my [limited] experience I find that guys who are good at welding have welders at home and are open to small side jobs.

Good luck!

- - - - -

Beancooker, that cart looks great!

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Awesome job! The tank holder and the handle/cord wrap combo is nice. I like that it's simple and looks light. I kind of went the opposite direction with mine, but it's stout as hell.

My thread is here.

You going to paint, clear coat, or leave it? I went with clear coat.

I read your thread this morning. Notice the similarities? I also double checked my casters at HF this morning. Most of mine is over engineered. The handles and cable minder is all cold rolled solid steel. I could have used pipe, but… well, I had solid cold rolled and it was free.

I cheated out on the casters though. I figure when it’s a month I haven’t spent as much and the wife isn’t so critical of my purchases, I’ll take a look at some bigger casters. The gaps in my garage floor are similar to the Grand Canyon.

I had planned on painting, but the wife said it would look cheap. I’ll probably just clear coat it.

Haha! Nice. I thought it was hollow tubing. That should be pretty beefy.

I suppose looking "cheap" would depend on the color. The top shelf could be done with an accent color.

As far as paint, I have a wide selection of specialty MTM paint. I happen to have both the Hobart grayish beige, and the orange. With the black tray, it would be pretty cool colors, I think.

The wife spoke. She likes the rugged steel look. I’ll pick up some clear and give it a bath.

Question- why is the deck sloped?

Cool. You have all kinds of neat skills, from thinly and quickly slicing garlic wafers to welding cold hard steel.

Hey, I’m not trying to be critical and I’m obviously not an expert. But I used to cart around high pressure gas canisters years ago. We used very stable dollys that held the canisters at an incline toward the cart handles. That way they wouldn’t be prone to tip over forward or side to side. Is your tank counterbalanced enough?

Welding is a skill I wish I possessed, looks good.

Solid question Konata; Yes. The tank is actually pretty light. Maybe 40 lbs? The welder is 90 lbs and the handles on the cart weigh at least 20 lbs. The rear wheels are mounted right under the tank. (I would have mounted them behind the tank to add stability, but cost drove me to a cheaper wheel).

Russ, the slope on the Cart is so when you’re welding at a table, the mig torch tube is straighter. Keeps your wire flowing smoothly.

As far as paint, why not check to see how much it would cost to get it powder coated? Would give a durable finish.

quote:

Originally posted by dgshooter:
As far as paint, why not check to see how much it would cost to get it powder coated? Would give a durable finish.

I like the idea of powder coating. I live in a small town. There is one guy local that powder coats. His prices are very high. If I take it to Phoenix, two trips to Phoenix in the Jeep is over $100. Now the local guy isn’t so expensive.
Local guy does amazing work. I will give him credit.

If it were to be colored, I would paint it or powder coat it to match the welder. Two or three colors, grayish beige, orange and black. That would get really expensive if I was to powder coat three colors.

My wife likes to be involved in some of the things I do. It makes her feel like she’s part of the team. I also like it when she gets involved as she then supports things like me buying a welder and all the accessories.

She said she likes the bare steel look. She thinks it looks great. So I’ll pick up a couple cans of MTM clear and seal it up.

I almost wrote "I find hole filling extremely satisfying." (Hey now!)

But I do. I obviously don't want it to happen, like when I'm welding exhaust pipe. It's obviously easier, faster and a nicer looking job without, but there's something about the build ups and bridge building of the burn through repair that apparently I really enjoy. "Oh yeah, take that", I feel like I'm winning lol.

I recently spent about 45 minutes on an exhaust manifold heat shield/heat riser that really should have been taken off and thrown away. Many rust holes big and small. Several patches cut, shaped and welded in. MANY burn throughs and rust holes. And in the end, when the engine was reassembled, I ended up NOT hooking the heat riser back up anyway, so it was all for nothing.

Very nice. OSHA would have something to say about no kick back guard on your 4 inch. I do like those flap discs. They are the primary on my 4 inch at work.

You did yourself proud...

I'll repeat my comment used almost a year ago in PHPaul's welding table posting.


Weld-done.